During medical procedures, a physician, surgeon or technician may remove a specimen from a patient for analysis. In most cases, speciment analysis takes place at locations other than the one at which the operation is performed. To protect the specimen during storage or transportation to another site, the specimen must be preserved in some kind of solution.
The solution in which a specimen is stored depends on factors such as the distance a specimen must travel, storage time, and the particular specimen involved. But whether the solution is selected for its fixation values or is a transport medium, a specimen solution is frequently expensive, odorous, irritative, and sometimes even toxic. Therefore, the choice of the proper specimen collection and transport container is an important consideration. Glass and plastic bottles are currently filled with solution, usually just before use.
Most specimen collection containers are single chamber vessels. U.S. Pat. No. 3,575,225 Muheim teaches a single chamber container which is partially filled with solution prior to a medical operation so that the surgeon may place specimens into the solution.
Multiple chambered containers are known in the medical field. U.S. Pat. No. 4,311,972 to Avery discloses a microbial culture collection plastic tube having a frangible glass ampule which is broken after a culture-carrying swab is placed in the plastic tube. The ampule releases a liquid culture-sustaining medium into the remainder of the tube.
U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,660,033 to Schwartz and 4,294,582 to Nashlund disclose multi-chambered vessels that are designed for urinalysis. The liquid urine specimen is held in a storage chamber and a reacting agent is placed in an analysis chamber. The testing occurs when a portion of the specimen is allowed into the analysis chamber of the vessel.
U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,465,488 to Richmond et al., 4,467,588 to Carveth, and 4,484,920 to Kaufman et al. disclose containers having two or more chambers separated by frangible closures. Each chamber contains a sterilized component, usually a medical agent. When the closures are broken, the components mix together and can then be administered to a patient.
In industrial situations, multiple chambered containers are made to separate liquid epoxy resins from a suitable hardener until the epoxy is to be used. U.S. Pat. No. 2,916,197 to Detrie et al. teaches such a container. The four edges of a plastic bag are heat sealed shut and the epoxy chamber and the hardener chamber are separated by any one of a variety of internal dividing means. The dividing means may be a heat seal, a thin membrane, adhesive, or pair of opposed mating members. Once the dividing means is broken, the epoxy and the hardener mix. The ingredients may then be dispensed directly from the container after a corner of the bag has been cut away. In such a container, bag contents are not intended to be stored after dispensing. Also, components cannot be added to the bag through the heat-sealed edges.
An object of the present invention is to provide a specimen, sample collection and transport container which permits safe and convenient handling of specimens or samples. A further objective is to provide a container which is transparent, air-tight, leak and odor proof for mixing samples with fixatives or media followed by transport and storage. A third objective is to provide a container which minimizes the cost of handling, storing, and transporting specimens or samples.